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The biomass of phytoplankton and the presence of cool water in those regions allow upwelling zones to be identified by cool sea surface temperatures (SST) and high concentrations of chlorophyll a. [2] [3] The increased availability of nutrients in upwelling regions results in high levels of primary production and thus fishery production.
An oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) is characterized as an oxygen-deficient layer in the world's oceans. Typically found between 200 m to 1500 m deep below regions of high productivity, such as the western coasts of continents. [1] OMZs can be seasonal following the spring-summer upwelling season.
Thus, some water is rising, in what is known as upwelling. Its speeds are very slow even compared to the movement of the bottom water masses. It is therefore difficult to measure where upwelling occurs using current speeds, given all the other wind-driven processes going on in the surface ocean.
Upwelling recycles iron and causes higher deep water iron concentrations. On average there is 0.07±0.04 nmol Fe kg −1 at the surface (<200 m) and 0.76±0.25 nmol Fe kg −1 at depth (>500 m). [21] Therefore, upwelling zones contain more iron than other areas of the surface oceans. Soluble iron in ferrous form is bioavailable for utilization ...
Evidence has shown that eddy pumping-induced upwelling and downwelling may play a significant role in shaping the way that carbon is stored in the ocean. Despite the fact that research in this field is only developing recently, first results show that eddies contribute less than 5% of the total annual export of phytoplankton to the ocean interior.
There are two main upwelling zones in the system that vary in intensity throughout the year; The Western Upwelling Zone (WUZ); And the Eastern Upwelling Zone; (EUZ). The western the WUZ is situated between 74-71°W and generates mainly seasonal upwelling and high offshore transport due to intense winds.
Due to upwelling and downwelling, which are both wind-driven, mixing of different layers can occur through the rise of cold nutrient-rich and sinking of warm water, respectively. Generally, layers are based on water density : heavier, and hence denser, water is below the lighter water, representing a stable stratification .
It is also one of six major coastal currents affiliated with strong upwelling zones, the others being the Humboldt Current, the Canary Current, the Benguela Current, the Oyashio Current, and the Somali Current. The California Current is part of the North Pacific Gyre, a large swirling current that occupies the northern basin of the Pacific.